David Wilson has been instrumental in the growth of Toyota. During his career at Toyota Racing Development, Wilson has had numerous roles, including that of a design engineer, and a track support engineer. He’s also been vice president of several departments including operations and engineering, production and strategic planning and finance, operations and planning. All of which he did successfully for several decades.

Recently, he announced his retirement, and he said, “It’s been such an honor to be a member of this Team and work alongside so many dedicated, talented and passionate men and women.”  To this, Joe Gibbs Racing also took to Instagram to give Alison a heartfelt message.

JGR’s parting words to David Wilson

David Wilson has been part of many iconic race victories in his career. Be it the Indianapolis 500 or the Daytona 500, the list is long. As reported by NASCAR, he’s garnered a lot of success with Toyota, Lexus, and Toyota Gazoo Racing. During his time, he’s won it all, including championships in CART, CORR, Grand-Am, IMSA, Indy Racing League, MTEG, NASCAR, NHRA, SCORE, and USAC. This is the very reason his departure will be hard to cover for the Toyota team.

In his parting words to Toyota and to the whole motorsports world he said, “I’m humbled and grateful for the trust, support and friendship afforded me throughout my career by my colleagues at TMNA, the Toyota Motor Corporation, our industry and team partners and our athletes. But now, I’ve completed my lap and I’m proud to hand the keys over to my friend and ‘brother in arms,’ Tyler Gibbs.”

Gibbs will succeed Wilson as the new TRD president. Gibbs, was humbled by the opportunity and spoke about how David has for decades contributed to the growth of Toyota. He went on to say, “I have big shoes to fill. Dave has been the cornerstone of TRD’s growth and culture over the last 35 years. During my 28 years working for Dave, he has given me countless opportunities to learn and grow, and this is another one of those opportunities.” 

The kind words to Wilson continued as JGR took to Instagram to send their parting message and thank you note. According to JGR, Wilson has played a key role in the growth of their team. The message further reads, “In a partnership that has so many facets to it, we have, over the years, experienced the highs and lows of racing. Dave always had a positive outlook and was willing to spend endless energy in providing what we needed to succeed.” 

Just like the change in the Toyota faction, JGR has also made a change before racing resumes in the 2024 season.

There is a change in crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing

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It sounds like Gibbs Racing is making some significant adjustments with Chris Sherwood stepping in as the interim crew chief for the No. 20 Toyota team.  It’s always a challenge when a key team member like Adam Stevens has to step away due to injury, but it’s great that they have someone with experience like Sherwood to fill the role temporarily.

Sherwood, too, has big shoes to fill as Christopher Bell has had a stellar season so far. Bell is comfortably sitting in the 8th position in points with an average finish of 15.591. He has already managed to bag three wins, seven top-5s, and twelve top-10 finishes, however, suddenly adjusting to a different crew chief might be a challenge for Bell. Stevens, although won’t be speaking to Bell on the radio, will continue to work remotely from JGR headquarters.

Stevens is confident about Sherwood as he’s proven himself in previous situations too. Reiterating this, he said, “Sherwood filled in for me at Watkins Glen when I got booted on race morning inspection, and he did a great job.” The series is at a crucial point, with three wins Bell has secured a playoff position. However now for him, the battle is for the coveted playoff points, which will prove to be detrimental in the time to come.